


Companionship

by ArsitRouke



Category: MarsCorp (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I'm Sorry, a bit sad at the start maybe, but then they're all friends yay, probably wildly ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 21:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7949929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArsitRouke/pseuds/ArsitRouke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David ends up having a nice day for once</p>
            </blockquote>





	Companionship

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marietcaelum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marietcaelum/gifts).



> Listen I just need David to be happy ok and it didn't look like anyone else was gonna write any David fluff so. At least I tried lol
> 
> I finished this at like 3am because I was in too much pain to sleep so that probably tells you a lot. Like why i'm not bothering to proofread it too much or think of a proper title

David Knight had been sitting on the floor of the cupboard for quite some time. Darkness and silence were calming, comforting, and he really needed that right now. He liked his cupboard. It was a good place, even if when he woke up in it, it sometimes seemed to be a bit too similar to the cell where he had spent the last ten years of his life, which always made him panic for a few seconds until his brain caught up with the present again. Just one of those fun little quirks prolonged solitary incarceration left you with.

The mixture of emotions that exploded inside of his chest when someone knocked on the door just now was another one of them. Fear, hope, desperation and anxiety so mushed together it was impossible to separate one feeling from the other. He had barely had any visits while in prison, and even now someone coming here looking for him was very rare. Until now he had been hiding his face against his knees, arms around them, but when he heard the knocking he raised it quickly, eyes widening slightly.

“Yes? Who is it?” David said, making an effort to raise his voice. His mouth was dry and talking felt hard, almost unnatural right now.

“David! It’s me, Jim!” The response came from a cheerful male voice on the other side of the door. “You wanna come and hang out? Me and a few of the others are going to go get some ice cream, it’ll be fun!”

David flinched, almost as if the words he just heard caused him physical pain. Fear and anxiety rose above everything else, making his chest feel tight and uncomfortable. That was what his coworkers had said too, to get him somewhere isolated and try to attack him.

“David? You ok?”

He realised he had been silent and holding his breath for too long, and was starting to feel lightheaded, so he forced himself to breathe and then answer. “Y-Yeah. I’m just…” David had to try really hard to stop his voice from breaking in a noticeable way then. “I don’t feel like going outside right now. I’d prefer to rest here. You guys have fun though!” His tone was strained, forcefully positive, but he hoped it’d be enough to convince Jim.

“Oh.” The other man said, quietly, but quickly returning to his usual bright manner. “Well, alright then! See you!”  

David listened to the receding footsteps feeling at the same time a great relief and a great sadness that made his stomach drop. Maybe a part of him had wanted Jim to insist a bit more, but of course he would just accept his answer instantly. Why wouldn’t he? Jim was probably relieved himself that David had said no. He wouldn’t want to hang out with him, and none of the others would either, not really. He only felt obligated to ask to be polite. Just like they felt obligated to have him along for the work trips and missions, even though they didn’t trust or like him and he kept fucking up no matter how hard he tried to be helpful and useful. He was just such a mess all the time. He couldn’t do anything right.

It was better this way, better to be alone. Being lonely was better than being around people and constantly worrying because you didn’t know how not to weird them out, how much to smile, what to talk about. Right?

Anyway, he wouldn’t be alone all the time anymore anyway, now that Colin was back. Which was… good. Yeah. Colin had said so. Just like he used to say quite often that Colin was the only person he could really trust, and that still made sense, didn’t it?  After all, hadn’t he come back from travelling from universe to universe to see him again? No one had ever made that much of an effort to be around him, no one else had ever demonstrated wanting him in their lives in such a big way. Colin had made sure to remind him of that. Which, of course, was only fair. After all he was right. And wasn’t he always?

David didn’t know how long he had been lost in those kinds of thoughts, his head now leaning back against the wall, eyes unfocused. It could have been just a few minutes or over half an hour, he had a tendency to lose track of time now, after having obsessed with it for so long and in such a precise manner while he was in prison. Maybe his internal clock had just given up, or maybe his brain just didn’t work as well as it used to in that way either, like with so many other things. Anyhow, he didn’t snap out of it until he was surprised by someone knocking on his door again. Somehow this time was worse. He felt his heart in his throat, and he truly felt incapable of speaking. Maybe… maybe if he just didn’t say anything, they’d go away and leave him alone again.

“David! I’m back! Opening the door now yeah?” He only had a brief moment to regret the lack of a lock on the cupboard before Jim, always so positive and direct, went right ahead and opened it. David had to blink to try and adjust his eyes to the light coming from the corridor, and when he did so enough to see the scene now before him clearly, he was hit by a wave of emotion and found himself having to blink away tears instead.

“Surprise! We brought ice cream!” Hayley said, giving him a big smile. Dave, who was next to her, raised the big tub of it he was carrying to show him. “We’ve got chocolate, and neon pink. You like those right?”

“Who doesn’t!” Dave exclaimed.

“Um…” David hesitated, thinking about how the last time he had had any ice cream had been as quite a small child, and he barely remembered it. And, of course, the last time someone had offered him some it hadn’t exactly ended up too well. But this… It was certainly unexpected, but it didn’t seem to make sense as a trap, or even just a joke at his expense. People were just… settling there, apparently. Like they just intended to stay and hang out. The cupboard wasn’t big enough for the four of them to fit inside comfortably, and thankfully they didn’t try, but instead Hayley sat next to him with her back against the wall to his right, putting the ice cream tub between them, while Jim looked happy to stay on the floor right on the doorway, and Dave grabbed a sturdy cleaning bucket to turn over and sit on just a bit outside of it, looking in.

“Here, c’mon, have some.” Hayley said casually, handing him a spoon. He accepted it, not knowing what else to do. Jim had apparently called dibs on the pink ice cream and was sharing it with Dave, so David and she were left with chocolate. “It’s pretty good.”

He tried to steady his hand and try a little bit of it. For a moment, the anxiety, the confusion, everything seemed to evaporate. There was only the sweetness, the soft texture, the pleasurable cold. Without realising, David smiled a little. “It _is_ good. Thank you.”

“How’s Hob doing?” Dave asked, looking at Jim. “I was kinda hoping she’d be here too, talk about Resources, y’know?”

The man in the bright Hawaiian shirt put a big spoonful of even brighter pink ice cream in his mouth, shivered a little trying to swallow it quickly, and nodded. “She’s just very busy right now, there’s so much to do! And she’s still settling into her new position. I just know she’s going to be so great at it.”

“W-what about Tom?” David said, trying to make an effort to be a part of the conversation. Since they were talking about people they all knew, inquiring about the wellbeing of another one of their coworkers seemed like a safe enough bet.

“Oh, I’ve heard he’s doing alright.” Dave said.

“Yeah, getting used to all the new robot parts, but that’s to be expected. He’s pretty much fully recovered now! And spending a lot of time with his daughter, they’re closer than ever now. Isn’t that nice?”

“Yes…”

Jim gave him a friendly look. “I’ll let him know you asked how he was doing. He’ll appreciate that.”

“What? Really?”

“Sure! He said all the robots really seem to like you, that you treat them well.” Jim ate some more ice cream, then frowned a little bit. “I’m sorry we weren’t very nice to you before, David, it’s just… We didn’t really know you, we didn’t know what to think, you know? But you’re a good guy.”

“Agh.” David tried not to choke on the emotion, not to let his eyes fill with tears again. He wasn’t expecting anyone to ever say anything like that to him and he didn’t know how to respond at all. “That’s really nice of you to say, Jim. I understand, of course. It’s… It’s really alright.” He ended up saying, awkwardly, trying to smile. Smiling to people was good.

Jim just smiled back at him before Dave said something to him about his latest plan for Resources and Jim turned a bit towards him to talk about it. David decided to file that away as a successful social interaction, secretly feeling a tiny bit proud of himself for managing that. He went to have some more ice cream, and met Hayley’s gaze, who seemed a bit flustered and quickly looked away.

“Hey, David.” She said, not sounding very confident. “I’m… Well, I just want to apologise for what happened the last time we talked. I realise now it was really out of the blue and I was a bit pushy. I’m sorry.”

David felt a little surprised by this, but tried not to show it. He wasn’t sure he totally understood what she was talking about. “You’ve got nothing to apologise for.”

 “Oh, do you really think so?” Hayley instantly perked up, smiling and talking confidently again. “I mean, well, I’m glad. I really do like you, David. Maybe we could just… start slower, go on a date sometime?”

“Wait, what?” This time it was impossible for him not to show how much this shocked him. That David knew of, no one had been interested in him in that way before, and that suited him just fine. People usually just… didn’t like him, in any way. And dating just wasn’t something he ever thought about. He felt very anxious again, all too aware that he didn’t have the kind of social skills needed to navigate a situation like this without hurting someone. “Oh, Hayley, I’m sorry. No. I don’t want to date you. It’s really not you, you seem like a nice girl, It’s just… very much not my thing?”

For a moment, Hayley looked sad, but then just shrugged it off. “Sigh. That’s ok. I get it.” She had a bit more ice cream, which seemed to quickly clear away any remaining sadness. “I still think you’re cool though, I’d be happy to just be friends? Maybe hang out sometime if you feel like it?”

That was, truly, the best reaction he could have hoped for. “I think I’d like that.”

They talked for a while, though David mostly listened and Hayley talked a lot more, pleased that someone gave her a chance to explain her plans and ambitions, and tried to be so encouraging and supportive in response. They talked about what David liked to do, too, and what the future might look like for all of them, and she insisted he just needed to focus on whatever would make him happy. She talked about how he deserved it after all he had done for all of them. It was curious - the way she talked about him, it was like seeing himself through her eyes in a new light. Like he was someone that some people could appreciate, after all, like he wasn’t as big of a failure as he felt he was. It was strange, but it was nice.

When they all finished the ice cream and they got up to leave, David got up with them, feeling better than he had in… well, in a very, very long time. He felt warm, and content. Everything just… felt alright now. Dave and Jim waved goodbye at him, Hayley gave him a quick hug after asking if he’d be ok with it, and that was all nice too. Having friends, David thought, had turned out to be very nice indeed.    


End file.
